Just another dummy for the squad

Sir - While teaching in Zurich in the late 1970s, I met a young English lady who had worked as a physiotherapist at Nottingham Forest and had known Brian Clough well.

She said he was a rigid disciplinarian and only certain players ever had the temerity to exchange banter with him at the training ground. One of these was John Robertson, the Scottish winger.

One day the squad was about to start training when a rep from a football kit company emerged from his car with a dummy dressed in Forest's proposed new kit.

At the time the media was full of stories of Cloughie buying too many defenders and not enough forwards. On seeing the mannequin in Forest gear, John Robertson called out: "Is this another fullback you've bought, boss?" To which Cloughie responded: "No, just another dummy for the squad."